1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus for ceramics which carries out heat treatment such as drying or calcination on a ceramic raw material such as a green body or a slurry for obtaining a pulverulent ceramic material.
2. Description of the Background Art
In order to prepare a ceramic material for a piezoelectric ceramic resonator or the like, a plurality of types of ceramic materials are generally mixed with a solvent, and the mixed ceramic raw material, being a slurry, is introduced into a furnace such as a tunnel furnace or a rotary kiln such that the raw material is heat treated therein. Thereafter, the heat treated material is pulverized by a pulverizer such as a ball mill. However, since such a conventional method requires individual apparatus for heat treatment and pulverization, it has inferior working efficiency and cost performance.